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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Revisit abortion debate: MP

City Tory chairs pro-life caucus; pledges to fight for the unborn

By: Chinta Puxley

29/12/2008 1:00 AM | Comments: 23

The new chairman of a secretive pro-life parliamentary caucus is pledging to rekindle the abortion debate in Canada and bring "more value" to the lives of unborn children.

Although Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he's not interested in reopening the divisive issue, Winnipeg MP Rod Bruinooge told The Canadian Press people need to be better educated about Canada's abortion stance, which he says puts the country in a "class of its own."

"Very few Canadians appreciate the fact that essentially until a child takes its first breath, it has less value than a kidney," says Bruinooge.

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"In Canada you can't remove your kidney and put it on eBay and auction it off. That is illegal. Whereas you actually can end a beating heart of an unborn child the second before it's delivered. Most Canadians would agree that is truly a poor bioethical position for our country to be in."

Pro-choice advocates say Canadian doctors only perform such later-term procedures if there's a serious threat to the health of the mother or if it's virtually certain the baby wouldn't survive past birth.

As Canada marks 20 years since a Supreme Court decision struck down Criminal Code restrictions on abortion, some advocates are worried the Conservatives will reopen the debate. But they say they are ready to fight for a woman's right to choose once again if necessary.

At the party's convention recently in Winnipeg, Conservative delegates voted to resurrect a proposal that would create specific criminal charges that could be laid against a suspect who kills or injures a fetus during a crime against a pregnant mother. A bill that would have done that died on the order paper when the last federal election was called.

Critics argue such a law would reopen the abortion debate by recognizing fetal rights.

"I think the debate is ongoing," Bruinooge says. "We need to have a starting point of debating whether or not abortion should be legal right up until the moment of birth."

Bruinooge wouldn't say how many MPs are formally part of the pro-life caucus, but said there are supporters from every party.

It's up to individual members to "present their personal philosophy on this issue," he says.

Joyce Arthur, co-ordinator of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, says it's not surprising that the pro-life movement is feeling "energized lately."

The majority of the Conservative caucus is "publicly anti-choice," she says, and many are lobbying intently against a woman's right to choose.

"It's something that the Conservative party is out of touch with because Canadians don't want to go back to the abortion debate," Arthur says. "People are happy with the status quo. It's working well."

Erin Leigh, acting executive director of Canadians for Choice, says the pro-life caucus has been around for years, trying to work behind the scenes to resurrect the abortion debate.

But Leigh says the "silent majority" of Canadians are pro-choice and realize it's important for women to have a safe, accessible alternative to pregnancy.

"If a woman is pregnant and she doesn't want to be, she'll find ways to terminate that pregnancy, legally or illegally."

 

-- The Canadian Press

 

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 29, 2008 A3

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23 Commentscomment icon

Well, this comment will be too little too late but I'm posting it anyway... I really can't believe how blind people can be. Go to any NICU ward in this country. You will find children there who were born after only 5 months in the womb. Doctors, medical staff, and parents work feverishly to help these children to survive. These babies are considered human in every sense of the word. Why? Because they are outside the womb? There is no difference between these premature babies fighting for their lives in the NICU wards and those who are still in the womb where they are meant to be. But according to many here, babies who are still in the womb aren't human and killing them holds no consequence. As to the argument about medical care - women have every right to pre-natal care and to give birth to their child in this country. They also have every right to avoid getting pregnant in the first place! Guess what people, having sex gives you a high risk of becoming a parent. There is no such thing as "safe sex". And yes, my first child was a "surprise". And he has every right to be here. None of us had the choice to be born or not. But we all have the right to exist. Abortion is simply legalized murder. And I'm thankful that Mr. Rod Bruinooge has the guts to point this out. And, for the record, I am not a conservative and have never voted for one.

As a young female in this country, I think that its good that we are finally talking about this subject. I think for so many years we have just been listening to what everyone else has been telling us and because no one is willing to talk about the subject, we just believe what is said. But I think it's time for this generation to formulate their own opinion on whether or not they believe that abortion is wrong. Let's really dive into the real issue and look at abortion for what it really is and then formulate something, rather then be fed by the media and other forms. Time to stop sweeping this issue under the rug.

To set the record straight first -- third trimester abortion is NOT illegal in Canada ...abortion is legal at any stage of pregnancy, for any reason,by any means....there is NO law protecting Canadian women or their unborn children from the extreme violence of abortion. As a feminist, I am passionate about discovering and supporting non-violent solutions to all human problems....although I wonder how it is we have come to accept that a perfectly natural and healthy part of being a woman should be rejected in the name of what......choice? Whatever happened to the choice to love a child to life?

"Critics argue such a law would reopen the abortion debate by recognizing fetal rights." - What's wrong with recognizing fetal rights? Unborn babies should have rights just as all other humans have rights.

Finally, we have someone with enough courage to stand up for free speech. I have been appalled at the suppression of free speech in Canada in the last decade or so with respect to Life. Since we have no law governing abortion, we can abort a child right up to the moment a child would naturally be born. If this wasn't so sad, it would be laughable. Finally we can debate the viability of a baby's life. This should have been done many years ago but our parliament has not had anyone with enough of both courage and clout to make it possible. I am convinced most Canadians are very much FOR saving a life and we now have a voice. I just hope the liberalized media doesn't try to muzzle and destroy Mr. Bruinooge's push for democratic debate.

I agree with Doogie, Dec 29 1:19pm.

If people are having unprotected sex, they need to accept the consequences that follow. If they really don't want children, they should be using protection to ensure that a pregnancy won't happen. It's their own fault they're getting pregnant, unless they didn't have a choice, but that's a whole different story. Women can't just expect to run around having sex and constantly abusing their bodies by getting numerous abortions. Doesn't matter how far along in the pregnancy you are, ITS STILL A LIVING HUMAN. Abortion is wrong, but it is a personal choice. But people should take way better precautions and endure in safe sex!

Obviously the issue of abortion is a complicated one, and fraught with emotion on both sides. I would never suggest that it's an easy decision for a woman to make, but I would suggest that it's a poor decision. We talk of slippery slopes without realizing that we're quite solidly at the bottom of one. Mass abortion is a by-product of modern society's sexual permissiveness, joined with a hedonistic desire to be free of all consequences of our actions. The ultimate solution, I submit, is to be found in a return to the sexual norms of yesteryear: reserve sexual intimacy for marriage. Secondarily, acknowledging that people make mistakes, we need to build a culture of support and understanding instead of condemnation, so that the scared girl snatching the coat hanger out of the closet instead feels comfortable confiding in her parents, her friends, her church, or her government agency. Global overpopulation is a myth, and even if it were true, culling the herd is no solution. And I will gladly offer my family as a safe place for an unprepared girl to deposit her "unwanted" baby. I cannot easily afford to feed another mouth (our fifth little mouth is due in February), but even moreso I cannot stomach the thought of that baby being burned by saline or dismembered in utero just so I can keep my magazine subscriptions.

Our world is over-populated as it is. Why force unwelcome children to be born when they will grow up unwanted, unloved and subject to whatever psychological/sociological damage that ensues? I would never have an abortion myself but I would never slam that down another person's throat. People have to be able to choose the path that's right for them. Before abortion was legalized, women who didn't want the baby would try to abort it themselves to the cost of their own health and well-being, sometimes dying from the effort. Is this preferable?

Not surprisingly, Mr. Bruinooge’s attempt to reopen the abortion debate appears to be nothing more than a lame attempt for Mr. Bruinooge to improve his rank within the Conservative party. I am a bit shocked in such a politically volatile situation that a Conservative MP would take such an extremist stance. Of primary issue here is what a position like this says about a woman’s right to have control over her own body. Does this mentality not create a slippery slope and set a dangerous precedent for women's rights? It is no wonder why the Supreme Court endorsed the Constitutional right to security of person, which Mr. Bruinooge chooses to disregard. In addition, Mr. Bruinooge should be factoring in the social cost of such a decision and the undisputed certainty that some women will choose abortion regardless of the legalities and place their physical well being at risk in the process. I would expect to see Mr. Harper silence Mr. Bruinooge very quickly, as antics like this will be the Achilles heel of the Conservatives. Mr. Bruinooge needs to quickly return to his previous strategy of taking credit for the previous Liberal government’s programs and investments now reaching maturity in order to achieve distinction within his party, referencing 2008 campaign material.

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